German Leadership in Arms Control

Three Pillars to Achieve More Realism

DGAPkompakt 10 (June 2019), 5 pp.

Category: Arms Control and WMD

Arms control is traditionally at the core of Germany’s cooperative security approach. It is therefore a natural leader for a new Western arms control policy. But Germany must overcome the Cold War approach that no longer suits today’s security environment. A new approach should build on three pillars: security, military, and alliance realism. While such a change entails risk and uncertainty for German decision-makers, the price of upholding existing outdated arms control architectures is already higher.